Cilgerran Castle

Cilgerran's towers appear amongst woods on the rim of a steep gorge in the Teifi Valley. The timeworn, beautifully located castle has a romantic air - it is somehow fitting Cilgerran is forever associated with the abduction in 1109 of Nest, the Welsh "Helen of Troy", by a besotted Owain, son of the prince of Powys, an act which set all Wales aflame.

The castle as it now stands dates from a century later, when the powerful Norman baron Willian Marshal the younger set about rebuilding it following a troubled period of capture and recapture from the Welsh in this hotly disputed area.

Cilgerran's most striking features are the Marshal family's powerful twin round towers and curtain wall, built to defend the castle's vulnerable side - note how the towers' outward facing walls are much thicker than those within. Yet Marshal's efforts bore little fruit, for the castle was apparently derelict within 50 years. Its fortunes revived in 1377 when Edward III ordered repairs to counter a threatened French invasion, and it was in the wars again during the Owain Glyn Dwr uprising in the early 1400s. Cilgerran's history and setting have long stirred the imagination. It has inspired artists for centuries and was one of Wales's first tourist attractions.

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